Hearing-impaired woman attacked by stranger at bus stop

DALLAS - A hearing impaired woman was sucker punched in broad daylight while waiting for a bus stop in Dallas.

56-year-old Cindy Tarkington says she was waiting for the bus when a stranger walked right up to her and hit her without warning. The unprovoked attack happened last Wednesday on South Polk Street near Nokomis Avenue in the Oak Cliff area.

Joe, Cindy’s husband, recalled walking his wife, who is nearly deaf, to the DART bus stop. It was around 11:30 a.m. so Cindy felt safe waiting for the bus by herself. But a few minutes later, she was sucker punched by a stranger walking across the street.

“He dropped the bag, wacked me… smiled,” she recalled.

Cindy says she was hit so hard, her hat, glasses and hearing aid landed on the ground. She says the man never said a word to her and didn't steal anything. He simply kept on walking south on Polk Street. Meanwhile, she ran back to her apartment to get Joe.

“Just walk up and hit somebody just for the hell of it?! How crazy is that?” Joe said.

He called 911, but responding officers were unable to locate his wife’s attacker. Joe snapped a photograph of an EMS worker tending to his wife. He also documented her injuries at Parkland Hospital, where Cindy says doctors told her she had a fractured nose.

And as investigators try to figure out who hit Cindy, her husband says he is keeping an eye on the streets.

“Don't let me find you cause I'm coming after you, whether DART Police get you or not,” Joe said. “If I find you, I'm coming after you.”

Cindy will have surgery next week to reset her nose.

Unfortunately, police don't have much of a suspect description to go on and have only found one security camera nearby, but it wasn't working. Detectives are hoping since this is a busy road, somebody may have seen something and report it to police.